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Could you be a deer?

399 Pbk

Please return/renew this item by the last date shown

HEREFORD AND WORCESTER COUNTY LIBRARIES

7000150039

1 0
First published in Great Britain by Heinemann Library
Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8E]
A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd

OXFORD FLORENCE PRAGUE MADRID ATHENS

MELBOURNE AUCKLAND KUALA LUMPUR SINGAPORE TOKYO
IBADAN NAIROBI KAMPALA JOHANNESBURG GABORONE
PORTSMOUTH NH CHICAGO MEXICO CITY SAO PAULO

First edition © Macmillan of Canada 1989

This edition © Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 1997

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either the prior written permission of
the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Rodd, London W1P 9HE

Text copyright © Roger Tabor 1989

Illustration copyright © Tim Hayward 1989
Photography copyright © Fiona Pragoff 1989
Designed by Herman Lelie
Produced by Mathew Prince Ltd
The Old Glove Factory
Bristol Road
Sherborne
Dorset DT9 4HP
Printed in Hong Kong

01 00 99 98 97
10987654321

ISBN 0 431 02693 9

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Tabor, Roger
Could you be a deer?. — (Survival)
1, Deer — Behaviour — Juvenile literature
2. Games - Juvenile literature
I, Title
§99.7'357'0451

Acknowledgements

The Publishers would like to thank

Fiona Pragoff for permission to
reproduce photographs.

Cover photograph reproduced with permission

of Fiona Pragoff.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of any material reproduced
in
this book. Any omissions will be rectified in subsequent printings if notice
is given to
the Publisher. : ;
Photography — Fiona Pragoff
Illustrations — Tim Hayward
Natural History and Expert Tips —
Roger Tabor
HEREFORD & WORCESTER
COUNTY LIBRARIES
j59%. 1357

M@ Each time you turn the page, you score

SURVIVAL points.

@ ir you turn to a page you've been to

before, you don’t score anything.

Count your moves. Every time you turn

the page, that’s one move. If two players
have the same score, the one with fewer
moves WINS.

@ When you ve achieved your best score,

you can challenge your friends to see if
they can beat you.
 Wind
Direction
ali. air is still, with hardly a breath of wind.
Overhead a pigeon alights on a tree with a
clatter and settles down — the forest’s signal
that no danger is near. There is a scent coming
up the gully of young conifers. The smell
reminds you that just beside the plantation is a
huge old oak tree with hundreds of acorns on
the ground. Acorns are one of your favourite
foods. In the rut, when deer mate, food is not
important to you. Now the mating season is
almost over and your appetite is beginning to
come back. The edible fungus you had
yesterday was delicious. Why not search for
some more? You sniff the air yet again. Time to
patrol your territory? The choice is yours. What
do you decide?
Y; have reached the site for your rutting
stand. You start to mark your area by thrashing
the surrounding trees with your antlers, rubbing
your scent into the bushes, making a groaning
noise and scraping the ground with your
forefeet. Suddenly, a large buck walks slowly
into your territory and you realise you have
made your rutting stand too close to his. You
stroll behind him. He is slightly heavier than
you, perhaps two or three years older. You
could get seriously hurt. But the rut has been in
full swing for six weeks now and he looks tired
and run down. What is it to be?
iv‘ 4% AN Se
iy

Step and brush

against him?
Go to 15
 hat lucky escape from your pursuer has
exhausted you. Stooping down you drink deep
from the cold and refreshing stream. Here all is
quiet, except for the chatter of a jay, and the
sound of a waterfall further down the hill,
where the stream drops suddenly into the trout
pool. Then you smell man. There’s no need for
thought — just escape. You can go under the
fence, or over it. Or perhaps you should gallop
off down the stream. Which way is safer?
 | Ye leapt back across the road, just as the
car came roaring towards you. You were killed
| instantly. Go back tol oe — 15 Points
eee §6cind start again.

Most of them are young animals, that are not yet used
to traffic. In some countries, people try to keep deer
away from roads at night by putting up mirrors. The
mirror reflects the light from the headlights into the
wood, so that the deer hesitates before crossing the
road.

Ve have lain in the ferns for hours, waiting

for the hunters to move awav. The sun is at its
highest and you are very thirsty. Go on to 3 for a
drink.
 | eae the hunter drove you towards
the ranger in his high seat half way up a tree.
— 15Points One shot was all it needed. Go back to 1.

Expert tip
In many parts of the world, rangers are employed to
control the numbers of deer in the forest areas. This is
because a lot of deer 1n one place can cause extensive
damage to the young trees.

Ye. tactics were successful and you forced

the older stag to give way. After attending to
your increased number ofdoes,go to9to
nibble a few acorns.

yy‘

Expert a
_ During the rut a buck will hardly eat anything, and |
~ will lose weight alarmingly. This is the time when a \|
_ younger buck, who has not done so much fighting,
OR
| y
can sometimes overcome him and take over his does. PR UF )UCUOE
 ‘a arrive at your rutting stand and start to
groan — a kind of grunting, belching sound that
tells other deer this is your patch. A lovely smell
of edible fungi is wafting over from the foot of &

the tree. Then a dog whimpers in excitement

higher up the valley and you are immediately
alert. The dog is your old enemy. What do you
do? Move off downwind? Or perhaps if you
stay, it might not come this way. You could taste
some fungus while you wait and see — but listen
carefully. What do you decide?

SZ

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Yow breathing is finally coming back to
normal after that run. You drowse in the
bracken in the hot sun and for once everything
seems peaceful. Lying with your back to the
wind, you are chewing the cud. Without any
warning at all there is a sudden movement in
front of you: a hunter has tracked you. Can you
get away? Or should you lie still? He’s drawing
closer — decide now.
 \S
.

L ies til]?
 NG. cleared the fence easily, but your foot
got caught in some hidden barbed wire. You
tripped and damaged your leg. You were so
badly hurt, that when the rangers found you,
they had to shoot you. Go back to 1.

Expert tip
We Deer often get caught or are digs : ee bits
of wire, old bottles, bits of glass, twine and other
refuse. Never leave any litter behind you.

VG lie in the bracken until you are sure you

are safe. Go on to 2.

Expert tip 7
Deer, like cows, chew the cud. Thatis, —
they swallow food into one stomach
where 1t stays until they have a chance
to lie down in safety and bring it up into
we their mouths to chew it properly.
 | \@ have a lovely time eating the acorns. Go |
on to 23 for a rest.

Expert coe =

Deer eat leaves, grass, ee young a nuts,

fruit and fungi. They are particularly fond of roses!
Ute Sa e ae Stare

— 10 Points

Y.. are killed by a snare that

has been set by a poacher.
Go back to 1.

Expert tip
As venison, or deer meat is so expensive,
some people will secretly kill deer to sell the
meat. The poachers lay their snares along the
paths that the deer use regularly. But A
poaching 1s nothing new, 1t has =
been going on for years. eu PE ge El EL Ss
 or fifteen minutes you have wrestled with
the stranger, antlers interlocked, the hair on
your back bristling fiercely, tongues out,
constantly breaking away to try for a better
position. Now he has your whole head tilted to
one side. You are close to exhaustion.
Suddenly, you sense that one of your antlers
might break. Should you beat a strategic
retreat and save your antler? Have you the
strength to give ground and then attack
suddenly, hoping to catch him off guard? Or
could you just push back even harder?
be is not healthy. You are still far too close
to the hunters. You and your does should
escape. But no, you are so inquisitive that you
just have to take a look. You are downwind of
them, so they won’t smell you and you are quite
certain they won't hear you, so you just enjoy a
good long look at them as they look for you.
Then you can disappear into the woods behind
you. Or you could just settle down quietly and :
wait with all your endless patience for them to : a
go.
To the woods
behind you?
Go to 8
 “5 vy

Upintothe |
woods? 1)
Turn to 2

|
, Yn and your does are heading for the ¥
‘ beech woods a mile away, by the river. The “9 3
* beech mast are now falling thick and fast. Ae
Approaching the top of the rise you stop to sniff Wa |
the breeze. You smell man. One of the does de
gives a short, alarmed bark. Quick, move! |ey
Where to? Back down the path? Intothe woods 7 i
on the right to the rutting stand? Down the old oe
deer path to the beech woods? Which is it to
be? There’s not much time.

DL LF SAP |
a ti at athe ‘yi iat a
 t's been a day full of incident. You settle
down in a patch of sunlight for a rest. You are
just under the brow of a hill so you present no
outline for people to see. In this favourite spot
the wind eddies round the hill from several
directions, so you will know immediately of any
danger. You are safe. You can contentedly
chew the cud and doze for a moment.

This is the end of a day in your life as a deer.

For a completely different day, turn back to the
beginning and make a new set of choices.
 nye.wriggled under the fence \\
and escaped completely unhurt. -
Go on to 23. es

Expert tip
Although deer are very good at eae they often
prefer to struggle under a fence.

Yi managed to escape from the ranger

and now move on to your rutting stand at 2.

Expert tip |
Deer are always listening and testing the wind for
danger. Their very life depends upon constant
alertness. However, they can get used to the noise of
@ people working in the woods and sometimes the
yy forester can get quite close to a herd of deer before
» = they glide away.
 Y.. lay, still as a statue, whilst the man
walked by. Now get up and go to 18

aresup
Deers have the incredible ability to aeeee and with
only a small amount of cover, remain undetected.

— 10 Points

A. you gathered your strength for one last

push, part of your right antler broke off. You
slipped and were injured by your opponent’s
brow tynes — the two front spikes of the antlers.
After breaking free, you limped away to
recover, but died much later from an infection
of the wound. \° back to 1.

_ Expert tip ‘
_ The rutting season lasts for about a month and all the
_ groaning, pawing the earth, scent marking and
fighting1s done to ensure the does stay with the
Psees: and best buck. =
 le.time to take a quick rest and chew the
cud. The wind is eddying round you from
several directions. Constantly testing the air, all
of a sudden you smell man. Now you can hear
him, creeping softly up the path on your left.
What can you do? You could fade away into the
woods to your right, or charge straight ahead
into the undergrowth. Perhaps you should lie
very still and hope he won't see you. It’s a hard

«=| Into the woods r%

Go to 17

ue i a Wind eo
:

#2 =<» Direction 2738 a

Go straight
ahead?
Go to 16
Index

A F P
GACOmisse! elo fences 11, 19 patrolling territory 1
air, sniffing the 1, 17, ferns 5 pawing the earth 2, 22
20, 23 fighting 5, 7, 15, 22 plantations 1, 9
alertness 20 food 1, 12, 13 poaching 14
antlers 2,5, 15, 22 forest 1]
foresters 20 R
B ‘freeze’, ability to 21 rangers 6, 11, 20
barbed wire 11 fungi 1, 8, 13 resting 10, 18
beech woods 17 rodds, crossing 4, 9
bracken 10, 12 G roads, death on the 4
DUCKS Aa groaning 2, 8, 22 rutting season I, 5, 7,
22
Cc H rutting stands 2, 8, 20
chewing the cud 10, hunters 5, 6, 10, 16
le, Tite AAR S
conifers ] I scent 1, 3
controlling deer injuries 11, 22 scent marking 2, 22
numbers 6 snares 14
J stomach 12
D jumping 19 streams 3
danger 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9,
LOMLO MLO. L T
death 4, 6, 11, 14, 22 litter 11 thirst 5
deer meat 14 traffic 4, 9
detection, escaping 21 M trees, damage to 6
does 7, 16, 17, 22 TNMs oO LO llenliog
dogs 8 17, 20; 23 V
downwind 8, 16 mating season 1 venison 14

E O WwW
eating habits 7, 12 oak trees 1, 9 weight loss 7
ret relish | |
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 If you were a deer...

Who would be your enemies?

How would you avoid being seen?

Why would you fight other deer?

Survival books take you on an adventure into the lives of

animals in the wild. Suddenly, your very life depends on smell
sound and wind direction. Where will you go next?
Each move you make leads you around the book, scoring or losing
points as you go. How many points can you score? Can you avoid the
dangers? In your struggle to survive, you discover the hidden secrets
of your environment - the dangers and delights of your habitat,
food and lifecycle é

* Large colour photographs give you the animal’s eye view of the world

* Different moves at each stage give you genuine wildlife choices —

with genuine consequences

* Expert tips give you special information on the CAE

* The scoring system enables you to compare your sdivival skills to.
those of your friends

‘The books are'super for increasing understanding about animals

and their habitats, in such a fun way
Education Officer, World Wide Fund for Nature

They are really an excellent idea

Gerald Durrell

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